Will Hasty 
German Literature of the High Middle Ages 

New essays on the first flowering of German literature, in the High Middle Ages and especially during the period 1180-1230.


The High Middle Ages, and particularly the period from 1180 to 1230, saw the beginnings of a vibrant literary culture in the German vernacular. While significant literary achievements in German had already been made in earlier centuries, they were a somewhat precarious vernacular extension of Christian Latin culture. But the vernacular literary culture of the High Middle Ages was an integral part of broader cultural developments in which the unquestioned validity of traditional authoritative models began to lose its hold. A secular culture began to emerge in which positive value began to be attached to the — however transitory — allegiances, pleasures, and loves of life. In new essays dealing with the most significant literary genres (the heroic epics, the romances, the love lyrics, and political poetry) and with broader political, social, and cultural issues (control of aggression, territorialization), this third volume of the
Camden House History of German Literature demonstrates how the emergence of a vernacular literary culture in Germany was an important part of a broader cultural transformation in which medieval people began to redefine themselves, their relationships to one another, and the position of humanity in the scheme of things.


Contributors: Albrecht Classen, Nicola Mc Lelland, Rodney Fisher, Neil Thomas, Marion Gibbs and Sidney Johnson, Rüdiger Krohn, Will Hasty, Nigel Harris, Susann Samples, Sara Poor, Michael Resler, Rüdiger Brandt, Elizabeth A. Andersen, Ulrich Müller and Franz Viktor Spechtler, Ruth Weichselbaumer, W. H. Jackson, Charles Bowlus.


Will Hasty is Professor of German Studies and co-founder and co-director of the Center for Medieval and Early Modern Studies at the University of Florida.

Tabla de materias

Introduction – Will Hasty

Heinrich von Veldeke – Albrecht Classen

Hartmann von Aue – Rodney Fisher

Gottfried von Strassburg and the Tristan Myth – Rüdiger Krohn

Wolfram von Eschenbach [coauthored with Sidney Johnson] – Marion E. Gibbs

Ulrich von Zatzikhoven’s
Lanzelet – Nicola Mc Lelland

Walther von der Vogelweide – Will Hasty

Didactic Poetry – Nigel Harris

Minnesang: The Medieval German Love Lyrics – Will Hasty

The German Heroic Narratives – Susanne Samples

Early Mystical Writings – Sara S. Poor

Wirnt von Grafenberg’s
Wigalois and Heinrich von dem Türlin’s
Diu Crône – Neil Thomas

Der Stricker – Michael Resler

Konrad von Würzburg – Rüdiger Brandt

Rudolf von Ems – Elizabeth A. Andersen

Ulrich von Liechtenstein (coauthored with Franz Viktor Spechtler) – Ulrich Muller

Wernher der Gärtner – Ruth Weichselbaumer

Court Literature and Violence in the High Middle Ages – Harry Jackson

Mobility, Politics, and Society in Medieval Germany – Charles Bowlus

Sobre el autor

ALBRECHT CLASSEN is University Distinguished Professor of German Studies at the University of Arizona; he received the title of Grand Knight Commander of the Most Noble Order of the Three Lions in 2017, in recognition of his outstanding service to German studies.